Speculation OFFICIAL Episode VII/Spin-Off Casting Rumors and Speculation Thread

Or, the lead can be a male, and the female can be the "second fiddle," as you put it (it works both ways, the girl can just as easily be "Spock"). As we have no confirmed information which would support the lead being male or female yet, I think it's far too soon to say much of anything is "likely."

Let's hope so.

As far as the discussion on the gender of the lead, personally, my biggest concern with any character is that they are created because they are what is required of the story, and frankly, there's a part of me that worries that the motivation behind writing the hero as a female could come from up high, with the powers-that-be basing their decisions on market research (targeting an "untapped demographic"), or hopping on more recent trends, (Twilight, GOT, etc.). I just want to see the characters (male, female, alien, or what-have-you) born of organic, artistic design, and not the bottom line. $$$



To the topic of the casting call, well, it's very exciting to have this next bit of confirmed information! Because these games are fun to play, I'll take a shot at some guesses, too.

- A young man aged between 20 and 25, witty and smart, fit but not classically handsome: My greatest hope, of course, is that this will be Luke's son.

- Late teenage girl, independent, good sense of humour, also… physically fit: I'll say Leia and Han's daughter.

- Man in late twenties, also fit, but this one is handsome and confident: My guess would be Leia and Han's son.

- Second young female, also late teens, tough, smart and physically fit: I don't know... Lando's daughter?

- Man in his forties, obviously physically fit, this one is a military type: Exciting possibilities abound. Rebel hero? Imperial Remnant? Mandalorian? Boba's son?

- A man of around thirty or so, this one is an intellectual type: Who can say, really? Politician? Love interest?

- Finally, a guy aged around seventy, strong opinions and tough: Survivor of the Clone Wars (connective tissue to the PT), but who? Jedi?


I think the Big 3 are already a given, but I wonder, is the big bad already spoken for, or is he or she secreted away in this list, some place?

 

Well as long as the character is interesting and well acted, the lead could be a genderless mushrom for all I care.

*but still female lead would be awesome*

 

Only a "survivor of the Clone Wars" in the sense that he was a kid during the Clone Wars. Remember, Han's 70 (well, Ford is)... more likely someone who was involved in the Galactic Civil War than the Clone Wars.

 

Well, it depends on the timeline, sure. The way I see it, it's been 30 years since ROTJ, which took place 23 years after the close of the Clone Wars.

A 70 year old would have been 17 (or roughly the age of Ahsoka Tano or Lux Bonteri) at the close of the war.

But what the hell, it was just a guess on my part, anyway. I have no idea who it could really be. One could just as easily trade my words for "Survivor of the 'Dark Times'," or "Survivor of the GCW," and I'd still be happy.

 

Katie Sackoff in a lead role could very well keep me from seeing this in theaters....

 

Even though I agree with your post from a story perspective, a lot of things that are EU do make it into the films. Granted it's not a verbatim transcript of the story, but characters (although maybe changed) do make it in, at least under Lucas they did.

From EU to Canon: 9 Star Wars Things George Lucas Didn’t Create

For instance if Arndt is going to give Han and Leia a daughter, why name her "Stacy Solo" when "Jaina Solo" is already an established name? Sure they can change her story around, but I don't see the need to change the "characters name" or her purpose (the Solo's child in this case).

Another thing is even Bob Iger said (to paraphrase) "Disney is acquiring thousands of characters, places, stories, etc with the Star Wars universe." (SOURCE):


I may be wrong but I don't think he was just limiting it to the films, because we all know the Disney purchase was for EVERYTHING, why not utilize what was there? Also Lucas stated that the Lucasfilm database of characters, etc is at the new filmmakers disposal.

So I truly believe that some of the EU characters and places and plots will make it into EP7. Granted they might be drastically different from the novels that are published, I think they will survive to EP7 in some form. This may piss off some EU fans more then just leaving them out, but for me I would like it if some of the EU survived, if even it is for names and descriptions.

 

The danger of using an existing name like Jaina Solo is that there is a possibility of an outcry from people who will complain that she's "nothing like in the books," even though the name would be just a fanservice to keep some semblance of continuity.

 

SOO true. I mean lets say they create a character and they decided to name him Jacen BUT he never goes evil and maybe even dies an honorable heroic death. You bet your ass that fans here are going to flip and say "BUT HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BECOME EVIL! They ruined this character by ignoring a MAJOR part of him!". IDK if the possible fan outcry/nitpicking is worth just using a name to make fans happy where instead you can just make him an entirely new character and avoid that.

 

Two very strong sides to this argument, but I'm gonna side with the "just come up with new characters with different names entirely" side.

Why? Cause that way in the back of our minds we can pretend characters like Jaina Solo and Ben Skywalker are still out there, they just don't tie in to the plots of the films and are off doing other stuff. That way their personalities won't get contradicted onscreen and EU fans can pretend the post-ROTJ novels are still cannon. Everyone wins.

 

I can live with that....plus that means I can now ship EU characters with ST characters so as a shipper I'm happy. Bring on Jaina X New female lead *yes I deal with that kind of shipping. DEAL WITH IT!*

 

The 'outcry' over the movie character-in-name-only not resembling the book character wouldn't be all that bad, tho--kneejerk reactions & the like. Far outweighed by the EU fans who appreciate being acknowledged... and many of those loudmouths--not all of them, but many--will come to accept that it's better to have "Jaina-in-name-only" than "Stacy Solo"... whereas having Stacy Solo would just bum out a LOT more EU fans, who might feel Lucasfilm is ignoring their years of patronage ENTIRELY.

For all the 'fan outcry/nitpicking' that might happen with "in-name-only" characters, there will be fans like me who'll pop in and say "Hey, it's better than NOTHING. I'm GLAD we got 'whoever-in-name-only'... shows they were at least THINKING about all of us nerds who actually enjoyed the books & comics that so many other Star Wars fans look down on just cuz they aren't 'the movies'"

 

That would actually be such a HUGE improvement on Jacen's character after the way he was sabotaged in the Legacy of the Force series that anything the ST does with a character named "Jacen" will likely be better than the mess we got after The New Jedi Order novels.

And this is the reason why I don't care if Episodes VII, etc. completely overwrite the EU, because EU has become such a cluster**** of awful storytelling in the past few years that anything Arndt, Abrams, and company do can only be an improvement. I love the NJO more than most novel series I've read in any franchise, but if they're nullified, it wasn't the ST that ruined them--LotF/FotJ did that first!


MODified: Language. I have altered the post. Pray I don't alter it any further.

 

I wonder when set photos will begin appearing online, speculation will explode bigger than the Death Star

 

(Thanks A Chorus of Disapproval and sorry about that--I keep forgetting this forum alone of all the forums I visit doesn't auto-censor pottymouth words. )

 

i don't know if you're eqipped with some statistics I'm not aware of, but this really doesn't feel true. Star Wars fans come in all ages- and they ARE childrens' movies after all.

 

oh sweet jesus, no.

 

There won't be many story requirements regarding the gender. A daughter could be just as good a Jedi as a son and vice versa. Unless some plot focuses on getting pregnant it isn't all that relevant.

If the heroine is a woman, the love interest is made a male. If the hero is a male, the love interest is a woman. Easy peasy.

I know you are downright obsessed with a Luke son but in this thread it doesn't feel as if many share your sentiment. Star Wars doesn't need a patriarchal chain of male heroes to work.

 

I also hope one of those characters is Luke's son... but that doesn't mean he has to be the "lead"... the younger female characters there might better fit into the "hero's journey" hero archetype, just by virtue of their youth. And for all we know, one girl is a Solo, and the other a Skywalker... it's all up in the air.

 

I think another point that should be said. There is a chance that episode 7 doesn't even fit into the traditional 3 main character with a main story arc. Even though, I admit, I still think it will.

It may be the story calls for a larger ensemble with multiple character subplots. I mean there could be 4 main characters for all we know at this point.

I mean did anyone think that it could be BOTH male/female Skywalkers and male/female Solo's?

I think most of us are projecting, instead of looking at possibilities "outside the box."

 

Looking around this very forum you can see this taking shape right now. There are some here that are hell-bent on THEIR vision of what EpVII-IX should be. When JJ brings HIS vision, some fans are going to flip out. The same thing happened with the PT.

 

Overhype.
A fan's worst enemy.

 

I enjoy coming up with different ideas and scenarios for the upcoming movies, but at the same time I make sure I'm open to different ideas because I know my "version" will likely never come to fruition.

 

These are all definitely for Episode VII right, and not also for spin-offs?

Given they plan to have the first spin-off out by 2016 they would have to start working on it pretty soon.